They had embassies? I figured their diplomats would defect at the first chance, as long as their families were with them.
Defect to the NK friendly country their embassy is in? I'm not sure how that would play out. They would probably just get deported back to NK where they will be punished. I'd bet a nickel that the diplomats are heavily watched as well.
Says one of the embassies was in Spain, so that wouldn't be bad. I doubt they can travel with their families though for that exact reason.
You can be a refugee in a new country or part of the elite 1% in your home country. Probably an easy choice for most of them.
The poor in many developed countries probably have better food security.
Iirc that means 3 generations of your extended family must be put into labor camps.
And they use their diplomatic immunity to deal meth and spread counterfeit money to get some cash for their war machine.
It's not run by normal people, it's the elite and defecting would lose the status for all the family up to the 100th generation
In Berlin they simply ran a cheap hotel on the embassy property instead of a real embassy, no joke.
North Korea will also shut down its embassy in Spain, with its mission in Italy handling affairs in the neighbouring country, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
Correspondence with the Spanish Communist Party released on the party's website showed the North Korean embassy announcing the closing in a letter dated Oct. 26.
The North's embassy in Madrid was in the spotlight after members of a group seeking the overthrow of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un staged a break-in in 2019, during which they bound and gagged staff before driving off with computers and other devices.
Pyongyang denounced the incident as a "grave breach of sovereignty and terrorist attack," and accused the United States of not investigating the group thoroughly and refusing to extradite its leader.
what
How strange. I can't believe I didn't know anything about this.
As of early April 2019, one person had been arrested in connection with the incident and two international arrest warrants had been issued by the Spanish Audiencia Nacional. The suspected perpetrators are citizens of Mexico, the US and South Korea, although the latter two governments denied any connection with the incident.
The Spanish privately briefed the media that they suspected but could not prove Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) involvement because the attack was professional in its precision. One former CIA agent, however, said the timing of the attack and its high-profile nature would have made it impossible for the CIA to have condoned it or taken part.
I bet. 🙄
The Government of North Korea described the incident as an act of terrorism and demanded an international investigation; the embassy and its attaché, however, did not report the attack or any injuries sustained by the staff to the Spanish police.
I have a bad feeling that they're preparing for war...
Russia let out the ghost of war from its bottle. I hope all of this don't end up in a 3rd world war.
End up? We're already there, it just hasn't been officially declared.
Tbh yeah - all you need is to do a bit of reading on the events leading up to WW2 - if this was in a book/movie I'd be saying "come on guys, that's a little on the nose, isn't it" lol
We're in "lead up to ww3" part of the history books.
They might be, but the list of embassies that are being closed seems a bit strange for that:
Spain, Hong Kong, and multiple countries in Africa
I'd've thought they'd keep the African embassies open: it's not like North Korea and Africa are going to war, they both have enough dislike of the West that Africa might sell supplies or diplomacy in a war, and it's always useful to have back channels and diplomatic relations in a war. So why "multiple countries in Africa"?
No. At this point any significant aggression towards the south would lead to a quick end to the NK regime.
Boring conversation anyway. Luke! We're gonna have company!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Both Angola and Uganda have forged friendly ties with North Korea since the 1970s, maintaining military cooperation and providing rare sources of foreign currency such as statue-building projects.
More than a dozen missions may close, likely because of international sanctions, a trend of Pyongyang's disengaging globally and the probable weakening of the North Korean economy, he said in a report on Wednesday.
Seoul's unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said the pullout reflected the impact of international sanctions aimed at curbing funding for the North's nuclear and missile programs.
"They appear to be withdrawing as their foreign currency earning business has stumbled due to the international community's strengthening of sanctions, making it difficult to maintain the embassies any longer," the ministry said in a statement.
North Korea has formal relations with 159 countries, but had 53 diplomatic missions overseas, including three consulates and three representative offices, until it pulled out of Angola and Uganda, according to the ministry.
Pyongyang denounced the incident as a "grave breach of sovereignty and terrorist attack," and accused the United States of not investigating the group thoroughly and refusing to extradite its leader.
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